This paper describes a final year biosciences module consisting of workshops to which web-based tools were introduced. The ability of the online tools to facilitate group work and assess the students was investigated. The online module was delivered via WebCT as the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). The initial concept was to enhance rather than substitute current teaching methods. The major part of this study involved implementation of online discussion groups to facilitate group work and to determine whether the online messages could be used to inform assessment. This proved successful from both the student and tutor perspectives, group work was certainly enabled and further modifications devised to assess the online interactions. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)